Grocery Shopping? You May Have Supported Terrorism, Too.

Chiquita branded bananas

Have you been unknowingly supporting terrorism?

That’s NOT a “trick” question, per se.

If one was, or is, unknowingly supporting terrorism, then that one would not know.

Right?

I mean, “not knowing” is the very definition of “unknowing,” is it not?

So that question cannot be answered affirmatively, nor can it be answered negatively — i.e., not “YES,” -and- not “NO.”

Well, almost.

If you eat bananas — and even if you don’t — search for the terms AUC + Chiquita, (<—use the handy-dandy link to the search terms in the DuckDuckGo search engine supplied herein) and let me know what you find. I’m certain that with little variance, we’ll have both found the same thing.

Here’s the long & short of it:

On Monday, 19 March 2007, the Department of Justice issued a press release on a matter titled “Chiquita Brands International Pleads Guilty to Making Payments to a Designated Terrorist Organization And Agrees to Pay $25 Million Fine.”

That document read in part:

WASHINGTON — Chiquita Brands International Inc. (“Chiquita”), a multinational corporation incorporated in New Jersey and headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, pleaded guilty today before the Honorable Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of engaging in transactions with a specially-designated global terrorist, announced Assistant Attorney General Kenneth L. Wainstein National Security Division; U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor; Wendy Wysong, Deputy Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce (“Commerce”); and William Reid, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Washington, D.C. Office of Investigations.

Chiquita pleaded guilty pursuant to a written plea agreement. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Chiquita’s sentence will include a $25 million criminal fine, the requirement to implement and maintain an effective compliance and ethics program, and five years’ probation. Chiquita also has agreed to cooperate in this ongoing investigation. Sentencing will occur on June 1, 2007.

The plea agreement arises from payments that Chiquita had made for years to the violent, right-wing terrorist organization United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia – an English translation of the Spanish name of the group, “Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia” (commonly known as and referred to hereinafter as the “AUC”). The AUC had been designated by the U.S. government as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (“FTO”) on Sept. 10, 2001, and as a Specially-Designated Global Terrorist (“SDGT”) on Oct. 31, 2001. These designations made it a federal crime for Chiquita, as a U.S. corporation, to provide money to the AUC. In April 2003, Chiquita made a voluntary self-disclosure to the government of its payments to the AUC, giving rise to this investigation.

Most recently — Monday 10 June 2024 — an empaneled Federal jury in West Palm Beach, FL voted to convict Chiquita of complicity in the deaths of several members of Colombian families who were killed by AUC terrorists… which were funded, in part, by Chiquita, which continued paying the terrorist group 2 years AFTER the AUC was declared a terrorist organization by the United States Government –and– which Chiquita earlier confessed to funding, as cited above.

This matter — the jury’s decision — is precedential, and is
the VERY FIRST TIME in which
a U.S. Corporation has been held accountable
for fostering and furthering human rights violations abroad.

Here’s an excerpted news item hosted by the National Security Archive of George Washington University on the matter, referencing the jury’s verdict, and background of the case.

Washington, D.C., June 10, 2024 – Today, an eight-member jury in West Palm Beach, Florida, found Chiquita Brands International liable for funding a violent Colombian paramilitary organization, the United Self-defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), that was responsible for major human rights atrocities during the 1990s and 2000s. The weeks-long trial featured testimony from the families of the nine victims in the case, the recollections of Colombian military officials and Chiquita executives, expert reports, and a summary of key documentary evidence produced by Michael Evans, director of the National Security Archive’s Colombia documentation project.

“This historic ruling marks the first time that an American jury has held a major U.S. corporation liable for complicity in serious human rights abuses in another country,” according to a press release from EarthRights International, which represents victims in the case.

The first page of a March 6, 2000, Chiquita legal memo that was read aloud during the trial.

In 2007, Chiquita reached a sentencing agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice in which it admitted to $1.7 million in payments to the AUC, which was designated a terrorist organization by the United States in 2001. Chiquita paid a $25 million fine for violating a U.S. anti-terrorism statute but has never before had to answer to victims of the paramilitary group it financed. In 2018, Chiquita settled separate claims brought by the families of six victims of the FARC insurgent group, which was also paid by Chiquita for many years.

This trial focused on nine bellwether cases among hundreds of claims that have been brought against Chiquita by victims of AUC violence. The nine plaintiffs were represented by EarthRights, International Rights Advocates, and other attorneys who years ago agreed to consolidate their claims against Chiquita and collaborate in multidistrict litigation (MDL) in the U.S. District Court for Southern Florida. Today, the jury found Chiquita liable in eight of the nine cases presented to them.

Plaintiffs contended that Chiquita willingly entered into “an unholy alliance with the AUC,” a group responsible for horrible atrocities and grave human rights abuses, at a time when the banana company was buying land and expanding its presence in Colombia’s violent banana-growing region. Attorneys for Chiquita argued that the company was “clearly extorted” by the AUC and had no choice but to make the payments.

Here also is a press release dated Monday 10 June 2024 by International Rights Advocates on the verdict:

Federal Court Jury in West Palm Beach Rules Against Chiquita Brands International in Landmark Case

West Palm Beach, FL – Today, a federal jury in West Palm Beach, Florida, delivered a significant verdict in favor of the Plaintiffs against Chiquita Brands International. The case, which has been ongoing for 17 years, centered on Chiquita’s financial support of the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC) from 1996 to 2004. The AUC is a violent paramilitary group that operated in Colombia.

Plaintiffs successfully argued that Chiquita, which had extensive banana plantations in Colombia’s Urabá and Magdalena regions, began paying the AUC for protection against the FARC, a left-wing armed group that threatened their operations. Initially formed in 1996 by local business interests as a “self-protection” force, the AUC’s role quickly escalated from protecting banana zones to committing widespread atrocities.

Testimony at trial revealed that the AUC oversaw a reign of terror, slaughtering thousands of innocent civilians, including relatives of the Plaintiffs, merely suspected of sympathizing with the FARC. The AUC also targeted union leaders, human rights activists, and strike participants, all while protecting Chiquita’s interests.

The evidence further established that Chiquita facilitated the AUC’s operations by allowing the group to use its ports for importing weapons and its banana boats for exporting cocaine to the U.S. and Europe. Despite the AUC being designated a terrorist organization by the United States in 2001, Chiquita continued its payments and support until 2004, when the U.S. Department of Justice initiated an investigation. Chiquita ultimately pled guilty to a felony in 2007 and paid a $25 million fine to the U.S. government. However, the company provided no restitution to the victims’ families.

The BBC reported the story, and in part wrote that, “The class-action lawsuit against Chiquita which ended on Monday focussed on nine cases, which were chosen out of hundreds of claims against the banana company.

“The jury found that the AUC was responsible for eight of the nine murders examined as part of the lawsuit.

“The jury also ruled that Chiquita had knowingly provided substantial assistance to the AUC, to a degree sufficient to create a foreseeable risk of harm.

“A second case against Chiquita brought by another group of plaintiffs is due to start on 15 July.”